Staff not available to collect first of the dough (7)
I believe the answer is:
polenta
'dough' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'staff not available to collect first of the' is the wordplay.
'staff' becomes 'pole' (I've seen this before).
'not available' becomes 'na' (abbreviation for not available).
'to collect' is an insertion indicator (inserted letters are collected by others).
'first of the' becomes 't' (1st letter of 'the').
'na' enclosing 't' is 'nta'.
'pole'+'nta'='POLENTA'
(Other definitions for polenta that I've seen before include "(Dough made with) cornmeal" , "Cornmeal -- on plate (anag)" , "Italian food" , "Italian dish of maize flour" , "Maize flour dough" .)